A Blog by Margaret Pless

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So, there’s this indie game I bought recently, called “Hatoful Boyfriend”. It’s a Japanese PG-13 dating simulator, except that the rest of the student body besides you are man-sized birds with human characteristics. The player spends the entire game building romantic relationships with pigeons, doves, quails and one demented partridge. The player character, seemingly the only human woman left on earth, lives in paleolithic conditions in a cave in the middle of the countryside, like some kind of outcast from bird society.

Spoiler Alert: as you might have guessed, the special new game + ending gave me the idea for the title of this article.

I’ve covered Eron Gjoni and his ugly breakup before; starting with Gjoni’s tell-all AMA in #burgersandfries. I’ve also written of the dishonest blog post he published downplaying his involvement in harassing Zoe Quinn, and Eron’s successful efforts to get the #gamergate rage mob to pay his legal fees, because he keeps violating his restraining order. I’ve even written about his unusual and timely friendship with Mike Cernovich, part-time attorney and full time juice bro.

But somehow in writing about this duplicitous 24-year-old from Massachusetts I’ve failed to capture the forest by describing the trees. There are still people who think that Quinn abused Eron, instead of the other way around; who think he engaged with #gamergate in the interest of quelling the harassment against Quinn instead of using it as his personal army/fan club. Granted, many of those people are his stalwart allies and I don’t think I can change their minds. Those tools would rather not contemplate the hand which wields them.

But to those who assume Eron wouldn’t lie about being abused, or that there are two sides to every story; I would like to present the side the evidence is on. Because this story is not a he-said, she-said. It’s not even about Zoe Quinn. This story is about a hateful boyfriend, who, once denied a relationship with Quinn committed himself to ruining her life. And today, I’m going to publish the pictures of him doing it, going all the way back to August. I’ll put a summary at the end of this post, supported by the evidence I’m about to present.

Part 1/5: “Set Odds of Harassment at 80%”

Eron filled his zoepost with salacious details about Quinn’s sex life because he knew it would be the best way to get 4chan’s attention. He admitted that Quinn was likely to be harassed as a result of these postings.

Eron Gjoni, admitting that his retribution fanfiction was banned from two of the three communities in which he promoted it.

From the very beginning, Gjoni wanted to make sure his zoepost would connect with a large base of people. Here, he shares a screencap of him workshopping thezoepost on Facebook with his friend, Rachel. (Note the date, August 6, about a week before he published it.) He posted this screengrab in October, well after Quinn filed a restraining order to try and shut him the fuck up.

Here he is with his friend Rachel, dicussing how to make the post entertaining, like a Tucker Max story or a Penthouse Letter.

Gjoni knowingly shared the so-called “zoepost” with 4chan hours after it went live. I know this because the post originally contained this welcome message for 4chan traffic. Eron’s since changed his TL;DR; this is the original header to his tell-all post.

TL;DR welcome 4channers, if you’re coming here from the thread I made on /r9k/

This directly contradicts Eron’s later narrative that 4chan simply happened to find his postings. He promoted them on the site; I know how this works because I own a blog myself. To be clear, this is the OP of the 4chan thread Gjoni’s talking about:

TLDR Zoe Quinn, a rabid feminist SJW GAMUR GIRL who made a shitty non-game called Depression Quest, just got outed for BRIBING THE MEDIA INTO LIKING HER SHITTY NON-GAME WITH HER VAGINA BY cheating on her boyfriend with 5 other guys, including Kotaku staff members who defended her online and reviewed her game and HER MARRIED BOSS. She is a manipulative liar and a sociopath.

At this point, 4channers were digging into every aspect of Quinn’s life, to see if they could shake loose another humiliating detail to add to the thread, for example, nude photos of Quinn, or the name of the wife of one of the men with whom Quinn allegedly had sex.

As if a post welcoming 4channers to his site wasn’t enough, Eron also joined the 4chan discussion to give the mob more material about his ex-girlfriend’s sex life and whereabouts. Here’s a picture of him entering the 4chan thread:

“Eron here: Yes she was in Virginia during January… still though, super shitty if she fucked you in January, because that would mean [ZQ] fucked you two weeks before confessing she was in love with me.”

To prove he was the real Eron Gjoni, he posted this note on his blog, linking to his 4chan post number. The only reason I can see why Eron would so definitively prove his identity was to certify to the fomenting mob that his ZQ gossip was the straight poop, so that he could obtain control of the harassment he had engendered against Quinn.

It’s important to note that Zoe Quinn had been harassed by channers in the past. Eron knew this had happened, which encouraged him to seek out this community as an audience for his writings. His intent with thezoepost seems to have been to destroy Quinn personally and professionally as an act of revenge. This next message (which Eron posted on Twitter and later deleted) suggests he even wanted to break her psychologically.

Harassing ZQ over the internet is how Eron shows how deeply he cares about her mental health.

Part 2/5: “I’m Zoe Quinn’s Ex, Ask Me Anything!”

Once it was clear that thezoepost had hit its mark, Eron began to bask in the sweet e-fame and e-sympathies of other angry, entitled men on 4chan, Reddit, and the IRC channel #burgersandfries. At the time, he was confident he would never face serious blowback for his actions.

To keep his readers coming back for more, Eron made sure to lay on the cheesecake in his AMAs: details about Zoe Quinn’s sex life made available for public consumption. He began calling around at hotels Quinn had stayed at, trying to gather proof she had stayed there to commit infidelities, and wasn’t simply traveling for business. He didn’t find any proof of that, but he kept saying she slept with folks while travelling anyway.

Eron Gjoni, inquiring about his ex-girlfriend’s whereabouts with certain hotels for 4chan’s benefit

Eron, unable to confirm that ZQ slept with some guy at Comfort Inn, but keeping 4chan entertained

It didn’t even matter if the stuff Eron was telling them turned out to be false in the end. So long as he was stirring the pot (and maintaining a veneer of “plausible deniability”) he was getting positive attention while Quinn was being pilloried. It seems like Eron wanted to reassert control over her life by using 4chan like a hundred cats-paws; puppets whose reward in this was a voyeuristic intimacy in Zoe Quinn’s life. That would explain all the porn about her.

Eron started using anon accounts for “plausible denaibility.” He didn’t find any evidence that Quinn stayed at Comfort Inn on the day he thought.

Note that Gjoni doesn’t condemn harassment of Quinn at all at this point. Throughout August he was basically just giving them information, without comment on the harassment he knew was taking place. (Those are my 4chan source threads, which are misogynist as fuck.) As late as September 7 he was harassing Quinn over Twitter directly.

Look what I found! It’s Eron harassing Quinn directly on Twitter.

The veracity of Gjoni’s claims were irrelevant because the purpose of these accusations were to keep up return traffic to Eron’s threads. Splashing specific details and innuendo about Quinn’s sex life around was how Eron kept people interested and convinced 4chan that this battle was worth fighting for him. Essentially, it was a price paid to get #gamergate to rally to Gjoni’s cause. The more details he could release, the better. For the people he was aggregating, violating Quinn’s privacy was part of the thrill.

Naming her friends, sex partners during an AMA on #burgersandfries.

The anons on /r9k/ were 0nly too willing to humor Eron, and act as his tools. They hated Quinn already, and went out of their way to follow the trail he marked for them, straight to her nude pictures and identities of her friends. Gjoni laid it out like a trail of breadcrumbs; like he does here with Lawfag. Eron does this so he can skirt responsibility for his actions.

Basically Eron used the anons on 4chan as cat-paws, to harass Quinn for him. He maintained an illusion of control over the mob by sending them tips, like this one publishing an old username of hers or this one, about her history in the adult entertainment industry. Here is is on Reddit doing just that: (qrios is his screenname, by the way)

Confidential to the tool who spent $10 on Zoe’s nudes: Eron should reimburse you for the expense.

As you can see in the sceencap above, Eron was lavished with sympathy by the mob; and he still is. His claims that he was walking into a “hatebox” to calm the harassment against Quinn is just so much lies. They treated this guy like a prince and were hanging off his every word, which undoubtedly stoked Eron’s ego. If anything #gamergate is a mirror which, to paraphrase Virginia Woolf, reflects Eron at twice his natural size.

What was in it for these anons was a chance to enjoy watching Quinn be pilloried for a variety of transgressions; which range from infidelity, to ‘sleeping her way to the top’ of her industry, to dyeing her hair the wrong color. Eron was only too willing to encourage & embolden them, because he desperately wanted to restore his control over Quinn’s life, even if that meant harassing her into killing herself. He was willing to engage with the literal scum of the Internet to get his way.

Of course in Eron’s mind, Zoe deserves this, his revenge quest to obtain control over her life by any means necessary. He’s even equated the harassment he engendered with the income on Quinn’s Patreon, as if it’s some perverse gift he’s giving her, instead of a seemingly never-ending and very dangerous situation.

“Professional Victimhood” logic at its tersest.

Part 3/5: Coaching the Mob, Denying Personal Involvement

I doubt Eron thought anybody outside of 4chan’s /r9k/ would ever know he was involved in shaping the harassment campaign which eventually named itself #gamergate. So when Zoe Quinn published some of her own screengrabs in the first week of September, he began to distance himself from the harassment campaign, writing mealy-mouthed tracts on his blog about how these people harassing ZQ were only “human” and he was basically still a nice guy, and also that Zoe was a public danger, like a runaway truck.

“It’s not revenge, she’s a danger to all of videogames!” Yeah I really believe you, Eron.

Even so, Gjoni couldn’t really stand to be separated from the movement which lavished him with so much sympathy and attention, and his ex with the harassment he believes Quinn deserves. So Eron moved his involvement behind the scenes, searching for a way to still be in control of his ex’s harassment without appearing that way.

I mean he is the “pope” of #gamergate (no offense, @Popehat)

To better conceal the reality of the harassment he engendered, Gjoni began coaching those following him so that their harassment of Quinn was as “plausibly deniable” as his own, to use Eron’s words for it. For example, he shared his derailing tactics with the #gamergate mob on reddit and in #burgersandfries. That’s why they’re known for rattling off “it’s about ethics in games journalism” like Catholics say Hail Mary, even though Gjoni’s post had nothing to do with journalism, and Gjoni’s admitted as much.

Eron Gjoni, coaching people on Reddit to talk about “journalism” when confronted with criticism about the movement’s focus on Quinn.

When he thinks women can see what he writes, Eron’s strategy has been to paint himself as a poor nice guy whose personal blog post somehow fell into 4chan’s hands, so that Gjoni really had no choice but to involve himself in their discussions. It’s very important to Eron that he not appear like an angry stalker, so he peddles this tale of trying to de-escalate the harassment of Quinn once it begun; giving any reason but the truth about why he was in those threads, doing those AMAs.

They just listen to me, I’m not their ‘leader’ or anything

In Gjoni’s twisted reasoning he kept back just enough information to protect ZQ from “undue harassment”, and all the specific details he did release about her (like her weight) were fair game. According to Eron and his reality-distortion field, Quinn should be thanking him right now for his discretion. But in reality he gave 4chan all the information they needed to dox her, dropping hints when he was afraid that just coming out and stating the facts would leave him legally responsible for incitement.

I’ve said this before, but if Eron tried to draw a line here with regards to how much information was too much to release, he missed it by a country mile. I suspect that Eron’s desire to “protect” his ex from harassers extends only as far as he might be legally culpable for what happens to her; and that the more pressing reason he represents himself as a “victim of abuse” on Twitter is because he’s the kind of guy who wants revenge without appearing in public like a vengeful asshole. He certainly seems to bristle at any depictions of himself in the media which are less than flattering.

Apparently this is a contest for “pity points”

At times it almost sounds like Eron’s jealous of Quinn for taking up so much of #gamergate’s attention; and angry that his plan to shame her out of the industry backfired. (Eron’s currently unemployed, having been asked to resign after his employers learned about thezoepost.) He seems bitter that he’s consistentlyportrayed by the media as a hateful boyfriend, whereas Zoe gets invited to interview with the BBC about #gamergate. Gjoni even blames 4chan for ruining this for him, since the average anon is not nearly as clever as he:

Eron Gjoni expected 4chan wouldn’t be so harebrained with their conspiracy theories; which tells us a lot about Gjoni.

On September 23, Eron Gjoni began crowdfunding a legal defense to combat a restraining order Quinn filed against him, which included a gag clause to prevent him from discussing her online. He sourced these monies from the same people who tried to get Quinn investigated for tax fraud because of her previous success with crowdfunding.

Eron Gjoni, begging for money so he can continue talking shit about his ex online.

Eron promised to post everything in the court case if he should win, as a reward for his backers. He was going to make it “amusing”, just like he did for thezoepost.

I will publish the affidavit, as well as the evidence in my defense [this will be public record, after all] in an amusing write-up or heavily auto-tuned whatever. And if that doesn’t convince you just how terribly low LW is willing to stoop, or just how much she doesn’t at all believe in the values she claims to uphold — then I give up. – Eron Gjoni, Sept 23

Oh, to be sure, he asked for nobody to harass “LW” Literally Who, a.k.a. Quinn; but only so he wouldn’t find himself legally imperiled by said harassment, which he knew was continuing apace. These weak denunciations of the harassment he knowingly engendered read like an effort of Gjoni’s to cover own his ass while he violates his RO.

The second is that no one harass LW over this…. In this particular case, harassment on anyone’s part would basically allow LW to claim that my simply asking for help with legal fees constitutes a violation of the order. She might claim that it constitutes a violation even if no one harasses her, but whatever. (I’ve already gotten a call from a concerned and sympathetic police officer for supposedly violating the order presumably for just doing a podcast interview, because as worded, I guess it just means LW is god and can call whatever she wants a violation). The lawyer I intend to hire disagrees, and says I shouldn’t worry about it, because of like, the constitution or whatever, but I won’t get into that. – Eron Gjoni, calling his ex “Literally Who” while violating his new RO.

Obnoxious double standard aside, Gjoni raised about $2500 on GoFundMe in a matter of hours, violating his restraining order on the GoFundMe page and also by appearing on a podcast hosted by KingofPol a few days later. In that podcast, Eron discusses Quinn’s new relationship and shares tons of details about the new guy, Alex Lifschitz. Listen here, Eron enters the discussion around the 39:00 mark.

Using 3rd parties to violate his restraining order is a common Gjoni tactic.

Eron, or maybe his friend Ben, also posted a picture of his RO to 8chan. I can say that because Hitov offered to share that same RO with Mike Cernovich. Does that sound crazy and stupid to you, too? Well, here’s Hitov telling Cernovich he would do just that on Twitter.

Juice Bro Lawyer & Hitov, who Gjoni’s been using a a tool. Some friends you got, Ben.

And do you remember that time I doxed Cernovich back in October, and he responded by screaming Zoe Quinn’s legal name from the rooftops of the internet? Well, Eron RTed that too.

Eron has violated his restraining order repeatedly, showing a callous indifference to the law as well as Quinn’s safety. I imagine it gives his realspace lawyer migraines, even as Mike Cernovich (part-time lawyer, full-time stalker) assures Eron he’s in the right. However I think Eron will find he’s writing his own ticket to unemployment and criminal indictment, just like Mike’s dealt with.

Part 5/5: Eron Gjoni, Self-Made Man

Writer’s conception of Eron Gjoni’s endgame

Despite all of this, Eron Gjoni would desperately like to believe he is a nice guy. And he wants us to believe he’s a nice guy, too. That’s why he goes on these extended, reality-bending PR campaigns, that’s why he claims he’s a feminist on his Tumblr. As the chances of his triumphing over Quinn grow increasingly remote, Eron would like to distract us with anything he can, so that he don’t see him as he really is. Unfortunately, the evidence is everywhere.

He’s not even sorry for causing all this trouble for his ex; Eron thinks Quinn’s been adequately compensated.

“”Professional victim” implies I profit from my victimhood. I don’t. In fact, my victimhood costs me quite a bit of money. For professional victim — see ZQ. Who is literally making $4k a month for getting harassed. ” – Eron Gjoni

In the classic logic of someone backed into a corner, he even claims this is somehow good for him, even though his revenge quest has backfired in most of its objectives.

No regrets, no remorse.

One of the weirdest things about following this whole scandal is how many times I’ve told Gjoni what he’s doing is a bad idea and that he should stop. And I’m not the only one, yet Gjoni continues. Here, he curtly rebuffs the advice of one of my readers:

“It’s not too late to avoid your destiny as a r/mensrights all-star.” Eron was told this in October, but persisted anyway.

What kind of abused person would continue on a self-destructive warpath to destroy the person abusing them? What kind of person needs to reserve the right to harass their ex online for months at all? Why put himself through more grief, now that the news is out and everyone knows the ‘truth’ he wants us to believe? What more could he possibly have to say about this breakup?

Indeed, Eron’s compulsion to talk about Quinn is telling. In his own mind, it’s like some titanic conflict; as if his love life is literally the most important thing on the internet.

In Eron’s mind, Zoe’s the face which sent a thousand angry emails to Gawker.

I think Eron would like the endgame of this saga to play out with him somehow triumphing over Quinn. As that becomes increasingly unlikely he has become desperate to prove his revenge quest was justified. Instead, Eron’s reduced to writing increasingly psychotic blog posts on his Tumblr, blaming everyone but himself for his current situation while waiting for his next hearing date to come around. He’s a quote wherein he quite literally he wishes death on SJWs via surgical accidents as a result of his being dismissed over thezoepost.

Here’s a tip though. next time you go to the ER, make really fucking sure the surgeon has grey hairs.

Or better yet. Don’t do that, and let that surgeon go work on someone who actually deserves to live. Eron Gjoni, c. Nov 7 2014

The stuff I’m publishing now is just the tip of the iceberg; I could probably write five more articles with the material I’m sitting on.

I suppose I should detail one personal prejudice which disposes me against Eron. Over the course of writing about him in this space for the last three months, Eron has hit on me about five times; accusing me of liking him or offering to take me on a date. It’s gross, and he admits to doing that for that effect.

And of course he was “doing it to creep me out.” What a card.

He also does it to other people, like Greenduch, a Reddit moderator.

“So you wanna go on a date?” – Eron Gjoni, hitting on a Reddit moderator right after a ban.

I have to say that being hit on when I back Eron into a corner logically doesn’t help me believe he’s not willing to lie through his teeth to save his hide. But that’s just an impression I get, as someone totally grossed out with his narcissistic, manipulative behavior.

Summary

1. Eron knowingly promoted his tell-all blog post about Quinn on 4chan, knowing it was likely to cause harassment.

2. Rather than try to quell the harassment (As he might have you believe), Gjoni actually basked in the attention, to try and stir up even more agita against his ex.

3. Once confronted with his actions, Eron tried to distance himself from #gamergate, and move his involvement of Quinn behind the scenes. Unfortunately we have evidence of this string-pulling.

4. Eron’s fight against his restraining order is merely a continuation of the harassment he was already engaging in. If he wins his legal battle he’s likely to post even more private info about Quinn as a reward for his backers.

5. Gjoni has essentially ruined his good name in pursuit of this revenge quest. He knows this, and it makes him bitter that his plans to sideline Quinn in her own industry have backfired so spectacularly.

6. Gjoni sexually harasses women critical of him; especially when caught in a lie or backed into a corner logically. I find this a telling clue about his real attitude about women, although Gjoni claims to be a feminist.